In August 2008 I opened up a shop on Etsy. It started as a way to keep myself busy while looking for a job. Now, it has become my job and I love it. It really is a dream come true being able to create beautiful items for people all across the country.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Last week I posted some pictures of some Bobby Pins I have been working on. I have also been creating some other button items. A lot of the new items are not posted in the shop quite yet. I wanted to see the reaction at the Craft Show in October. However, to all you blog readers, I will be showing you first hand some of the new items.

So here are some wine charms I have been working on. Currently I have Autumn/Thanksgiving, Winter/Snowflake, Misc Colored, and Wedding Themed Charms.

Fall Leaves

Aqua and Brown Wedding

Autumn Harvest

Winter

Many more sets to come! I did list a few in the shop but if you are interested in purchasing any of these let me know! I will get the rest up in the shop after the October 18th show!

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Hi everyone! I am back with a new giveaway. This week I will be featuring the sweet Edith from Bibs4sdrips and FragmentsbyEdith. Back in May I had Edith create some custom greeting cards for me that I gave as part of a wedding gift! I loved them so much! You can check them out here and here. Make sure to check out both of her shops!

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Interview with Edith:

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your Etsy Shops!

At the moment, I am a stay at home mom to two children, Lukas and Matilda. My passion is photography and making baby items that I sell in my other Etsy shop at Bibs4Drips. I have been taking photos since I was 16 years old. I love to look through the lens and focus on shapes, shades and details in a flower, a building or landscape. I post my favorite photos on my photo blog.

When did you start selling on Etsy? What made you decide to open up your own shop?

I started posting items on Etsy in summer 2008. I heard about Etsy from my sister in law and after browsing through the sites, I immediately thought that this is a good medium for my businesses. I got some sales in both of my shops and even though they are small, they all make me happy and encourage me to keep going.

Any fun tidbits about yourself?

I don't have anything funny to say about myself except that I am a happy and content person. I love being with my children and my husband, I love taking photos and sew whatever comes to my mind. I love to hang out with my friends and I love the Californian way of life and of course the weather. Nine years ago I came to the US with 2 suitcases from Germany and I have arrived at the happiest place I could wish for.

Up for Grabs: A set of 4 cards from FragmentsbyEdith. It will be a surprise at what cards you will get.

How to Enter: Take a look around both of Edith's Etsy Shops FragmentsbyEdith and Bibs4Drips, come back and let me know your favorite item! Also, leave your email address in the message so I can contact you, if you win.

Earn Extra Entries: (Leave a comment for each extra entry)

1. Follow my blog. Or let me know if you already do

2. Follow Edith's blogs

3. Blog about this giveaway

4. Post a message on Twitter about the giveaway (Can be done once a day, enter a new comment for each day/time you tweet about it)

5. Become a Fan on Facebook

The winner will be picked on September 30th, 10pm CST. The winner will be notified by email. It will also be posted on this blog. Please make sure your email address is accurate. If no email address is provided, I will draw another name. The winner will have 48 hours to provide me with their choice of item and shipping information or another name will be picked.

Monday, September 21, 2009

I took a lot of pictures of these little cupcakes so I thought I would upload them all. They are actual cupcake size. I have 10 more to make. What colors should I do? Any design ideas you would like to see on a cupcake? (I am going to try and stick to the floral/cutsie designs for these. )

In a little less than a month I will be participating in a local craft show. This will be the second show I have ever done. I am very excited but at the same time extremely nervous. I don't know how my product will relate to the average craft show attendee.

I have been working with a few people on table design since my last craft show was a disaster. The table was a cluster of everything and really messy. It was very last minute and the event got rained out anyway. So in the end it didn't matter too much on the looks.

The event I will be a vendor at is the Altrusa Glitterati Boutique (you can join the Facebook group for more information, and if you are in the area come check it out!)

I had a few challenges to tackle for this show. The first was that I had to find a table. Since I am not an avid craft show vendor I don't have tables available. Thanks to Sonja I have a table so I can mark that off my list! The second challenge was the whole table design. That is being worked out right now. It is coming together very well I think. Here is a teaser...astroturf! I will post pictures after the show and that will make more sense.

The next challenge deals with my cake and cupcake toppers. I really want to show potential customers that the stems can be used for this purpose. I have had a few custom orders but I think this idea can really take off. The event is at a synagogue and it is a kosher environment. We were told we couldn't bring in any food. I am a very visual person so I wanted some way to showcase the cupcake toppers, which you need a cupcake for that purpose. Since I can't bring any food in I decided to make a pretend cupcake. Check out the results!!

I think the cupcakes are super cute! (They are actual cupcake size) I will possibly be making 10 more, to fill a whole cupcake tree holder.

I have so much more to finish for the craft show. I will be posting more items soon that can be found at the event. I can't wait to see how it all comes together!

Saturday, September 19, 2009

I love making these! They are a lot of fun to make and the color combinations are practically endless! This design and concept has been in the works for months but I am glad I put a lot of thought and strategy into it before I posted the first one.

Here is a Pink, Turquoise and Silver Bouquet I have up in the shop as well. It has some glitter tulle in it. Very sparkly! Would look super cute in a little girl's room.

Lastly, I was asked to create a custom piece for a wedding on December 31 in Vegas. I think this bouquet will fit the theme and location very well! The bride and groom have white and blue satin, with feathers while the maid of honor and best man have black and blue satin.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

I took a few weeks off for the giveaways but now I am back in full swing! This week I have a great giveaway from Pam at SOCKstar. I got a Sock Hippo awhile back and my puppy has become a fan! Make sure to read the interview and check out both of her shops! ___________________________________

Interview with Pam:

My name is Pam. I have been married to my husband for 4 years and he absolutely loves all of the house projects that I come up with (said with a hint of sarcasm). I am the proud mom of two dogs: Zero and EmJay, and two Pygmy Goats: Crimson and Clover, we also have some goldfish that happily eat mosquito larvae in our pond. I have a full time job and try to juggle said husband, 4 pets (plus fish), house, play, sleep, eat and SOCKstar! accordingly. Sewing is not my only interest in life; I also enjoy reading (just started my first book club in August!), painting, drawing, eating, sleeping, and photography.

I have 2 etsy shops right now: SOCKstar! and pLo0318. SOCKstar! features all of my sock critters whereas the latter has my bags and cozies in it. I decided to separate the two because I thought it was confusing advertising Sock Monkeys but having pouches show up instead. pLo0318 is my first username from when I joined etsy strictly as a BUYER, definitely not as a Seller.

I started SOCKstar in October 2008 because my friend, Angel, gave me a Sock Monkey for Christmas. Along with this fantastic gift, she gave me instructions on how to make them! 10 Sock Critters later... she kept hinting that I should try to sell them on etsy (she is fanatical about etsy)- and after much insistence and urging from family and friends, I decided to open up shop! So far I am happy with the outcome! I am very impressed by the love that people have for Sock Monkeys and giggle when they share their memories with me. My Sock Monkeys are definitely not like the ones they remember; and I appreciate them changing with the times!

I started making bags and laptop cozies because I just recieved a new computer for a gift- and I have the keen ability to drop laptops like it's the thing to do- that I decided to give it a buffer, should I decide to throw it across the room! One cozy turned into 7 cozies, which then turned into loading them into my etsy shop. I LOVE doing custom cozies! People have such great ideas that I enjoy the creative freedoms into making their thoughts turn into reality. The next natural step for me was to make bags! (why not?!) So I started playing around with bags that I own, seeing what I liked (and didn't like) and made my first one. I carry it around proudly (flaws in all) and love when someone asks me where I got it. Duh, I totally made it!

Random Tidbits:

*the Cure is my favorite band of all time.
*I don't have a middle name, I have a really long hyphenated first name that is always awesome to explain to people.
*I held out hope that in the remake of Romeo & Juliet (Clare & Leo), they were going to both live. even though I know how the story goes.
*in my dream world, I am a Photographer.
*I make really good soups & stews.
*text-speak drives me batty.
*Halloween is my favorite holiday, though I loathe Fall (it just means that Winter is around the corner).
*I really do love socks. knee socks are the best!
*I don't ever want to leave the Pacific Northwest.
*if Starburst were a food group I'd be a very happy girl.
*I've been to Antarctica. twice.

How to Enter: Take a look around both of Pam's Etsy Shops, SOCKstar and pLo0318, come back and let me know what type of critter you would like to see made from a sock! Also, leave your email address in the message so I can contact you, if you win.

Earn Extra Entries: (Leave a comment for each extra entry)

1. Follow my blog. Or let me know if you already do

2. Blog about this giveaway

3. Post a message on Twitter about the giveaway

4. Become a Fan on Facebook of SOCKstar

The winner will be picked on September 16th, 10pm CST. The winner will be notified by email. It will also be posted on this blog. Please make sure your email address is accurate. If no email address is provided, I will draw another name. The winner will have 48 hours to provide me with their choice of item and shipping information or another name will be picked.

It happens once a year. It is easy to remember. So why not get married on a day like 9/9/09!

Yesterday was the wedding of Ann and Matt in Omaha, NE. We worked with Ann to create a bridal bouquet, 2 bridesmaid bouquets, 3 boutonnières, 30 Flower magnet favors and 3 grapevine wreaths. All of the pieces were in the Mardi Gras Theme!

Ann was great to work with, she was a lot of fun and had some great ideas for us! It is also a small world, she knows my older brother. It is crazy how things like that work!

Here are a few pictures of the pieces created for her big day.

Magnet Favors

The bouquets

Boutonnières

Congrats Ann & Matt! You two were great to work with and I wish you all the happiness!